THE MAKING OF A NATION #205 - Korean War

And this is Phil Murray with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA
Special English program about the history of the United States.

(Theme)

Today, we tell about the Korean War.

A truck
carries American troops toward the 38th
parallel.

VOICE 1:

The biggest problem facing Dwight Eisenhower when he became
president of the United States was the continuing conflict in Korea.

Eisenhower was elected in November nineteen-fifty-two. At the
time, the United States had been helping South Korea fight North
Korea for more than two years. About twenty other members of the
United Nations were helping South Korea, too. They provided troops,
equipment, and medical aid.

VOICE 2:

During the last days of the American presidential election
campaign, Eisenhower announced that he would go to Korea. He thought
such a trip would help end the war. Eisenhower kept his promise. He
went to Korea after he won the election, but before he was sworn-in
as president. Yet there was no permanent peace in Korea until July
of the next year, nineteen-fifty-three.

((music))

VOICE 1:

The war started when North Korean troops invaded South Korea.
Both sides believed they should control all of the country.

The dream of a united Korea was a powerful one.

From nineteen-ten until World War Two, Japan ruled Korea. In an
agreement at the end of the war, Soviet troops occupied the North.
They accepted the surrender of Japanese troops and set up a military
government. American troops did the same in the South. The border
dividing north and south was the geographic line known as the
thirty-eighth parallel.

VOICE 2:

A few years later, the United Nations General Assembly ordered
free elections for all of Korea. With U-N help, the South
established the Republic of Korea. Syngman rhee was elected the
first president.

On the other side of the thirty-eighth parallel, however, the
Soviets refused to permit U-N election officials to enter the North.
They established a communist government there, called the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea. Kim Il-sung was named premier.

VOICE 1:

Five years after the end of World War Two, the United States had
withdrawn almost all its troops from South Korea. It was not clear
if America would defend the South from attack. South Korea had an
army. But it was smaller and less powerful than the North Korean
army.

North Korea decided the time was right to invade. On June
twenty-fifth, North Korean soldiers crossed the thirty-eighth
parallel.

The U-N Security Council demanded that they go back. Two days
later, it approved military support for South Korea. The Soviet
delegate had boycotted the meeting that day. If he had been present,
the resolution would have been defeated.

VOICE 2:

The U-N demand did not stop the North Korean troops. They
continued to push south. In a week, they were on the edge of the
capital, Seoul.

America's president at that time, Harry Truman, ordered air and
sea support for South Korea. A few days later, he announced that
American ground forces would be sent, too. Truman wanted an American
to command U-N troops in Korea. The U-N approved his choice: General
Douglas MacArthur.

VOICE 1:

Week after week, more U-N forces arrived. Yet by August, they had
been pushed back to the Pusan perimeter. This was a battle line
around an area near the port city of Pusan in the southeast corner
of Korea.

North Korean forces tried to break through the Pusan perimeter.
They began a major attack August sixth. They lost many men, however.
By the end of the month, they withdrew.

VOICE 2:

The next month, general MacArthur directed a surprise landing of
troops in South Korea. They arrived at the port of Inchon on the
northwest coast.

The landing was extremely dangerous. The daily change in the
level of the sea was as much as nine meters. The boats had to get
close to shore and land at high tide. If they waited too long, the
water level would drop, and they would be trapped in the mud with
little protection. The soldiers on the boats would be easy targets.

VOICE 1:

The landing at Inchon was successful. The additional troops
quickly divided the North Korean forces, which had been stretched
from north to south. At the same time, U-N air and sea power
destroyed the northern army's lines of communication.

On October first, South Korean troops moved into North Korea.
They captured the capital, Pyongyang. Then they moved toward the
Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. China warned
against moving closer to the border. General MacArthur ordered the
troops to continue their attacks. He repeatedly said he did not
believe that China would enter the war in force.

VOICE 2:

He was wrong. Several hundred thousand Chinese soldiers crossed
into North Korea in October and November. Still, General MacArthur
thought the war would be over by the Christmas holiday, December
twenty-fifth.

That was not to happen. The U-N troops were forced to withdraw
from Pyongyang. And, by the day before Christmas, there had been a
huge withdrawal by sea from the coastal city of Hungnam.

((music))

VOICE 1:

In the first days of nineteen-fifty-one, the North Koreans
recaptured Seoul. The U-N troops withdrew about forty kilometers
south of the city. They re-organized and, two months later, took
control of Seoul again.

Then the war changed. The two sides began fighting along a line
north of the thirty-eighth parallel. They exchanged control of the
same territory over and over again. Men were dying, but no one was
winning. The cost in lives was huge.

VOICE 2:

General MacArthur had wanted to cross into China and drop bombs
on Manchuria. He also had wanted to use Nationalist Chinese troops
against the communists.

President Truman feared these actions might start another world
war. He would not take this chance. When MacArthur disagreed with
his policies in public, Truman dismissed him.

VOICE 1:

In June, nineteen-fifty-one, the Soviet delegate to the united
nations proposed a ceasefire for Korea. Peace talks began, first at
Kaesong, then at Panmunjom. By November, hope was strong for a
settlement. But negotiators could not agree about several issues,
including the return of prisoners. The U-N demanded that prisoners
of war be permitted to choose if they wanted to go home.

The different issues could not be resolved after more than a
year. Finally, in October, nineteen-fifty-two, the peace talks were
suspended.

VOICE 2:

Fighting continued during the negotiations. As it did, president
Truman lost support. This was one reason why he decided not to run
for re-election. The new president, Dwight Eisenhower, took office
in January, nineteen-fifty-three.

Eisenhower had campaigned to end the war. He was willing to use
severe measures to do this. Years later, he wrote that he secretly
threatened to expand the war and use nuclear weapons, if the Soviets
did not help re-start the peace talks.

VOICE 1:

Such measures were not necessary. In a few months, North Korea
accepted an earlier U-N offer to trade prisoners who were sick or
wounded. The two sides finally signed a peace treaty on July
twenty-seventh, nineteen-fifty-three.

The treaty provided for the exchange of about ninety-thousand
prisoners of war. It also permitted prisoners to choose if they
wanted to go home.

VOICE 2:

The war in Korea damaged almost all of the country. As many as
two-million people may have died, including many civilians.

After the war, the United States provided hundreds of thousands
of soldiers to help the South guard against attack from the north.
Today, about fifty-thousand Americans are deployed in South Korea.

Almost half a century has passed since the truce. Yet Korea is
still divided. And many of the same issues still threaten the Korean
people, and the world.

(Theme)

VOICE 1:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson
and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Doug Johnson.

VOICE 2:

And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA
Special English program about the history of the United States.